Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The Work Continues


Everyone was split up with separate tasks. Garen, Doug and Jesse were digging around, trying to figure out what was in all the stuff. Paige and Zed were checking all the vehicles and seeing what they could make run, to know what they should pack. Bekka and Angelique started packing the stuff Odina, Emilia and Heidi were bringing out of the house.

Paige and Zed were working down the line of vehicles. Zed spent a good thirty minutes trying to make sense of the Ferret until he finally declared it a lost cause and not worth a lot of effort up front. The first thing they would have to find would be an engine for it.

Paige was spending a lot of time checking out the prepacked trailers. Garen was busy looking at what was in them while she was looking at the mechanics of the trailers themselves.

Paige was a fighting to keep focused. She was still having a hard time wrapping her head around the whole ‘being pregnant’ thing. There was a part of her she thought died with Henrik. Now, there was a spark of life there in her old feelings again.

It was in the same place where her love for Henrik and all their hopes and dreams for their future together lived. This was also where her anger for him dying was. The baby, their baby, changed all of that. As much as she felt an obligation to help her friends, it wasn’t the same as what she felt now. Now she had a life she was directly responsible for.

She had to be careful. She had to do everything she could to not let it down like she did Henrik. Sabine told her what she should expect and what she had to do to keep healthy and do what was best for her baby.

Stop it! Check the trailers! You need to focus on what you are doing! She practically yelled in her head. These trailers were supposed to go out with the first wave of vehicles. She promised Sabine she would be one of the drivers so she could get a good night’s sleep at Garen and Bekka’s before coming back down for another day’s work.
 

Sportsman

Veteran Member
All this sounds like a quite large multi-trip project. Everyone who has gone through a prepper/hoarder's estate knows what I mean. Along with the expected things, you keep finding stuff that the deceased had forgotten they had. And on this project, with each trip comes the risk of others finding about them here and on the way home.

Thanks!
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
All this sounds like a quite large multi-trip project. Everyone who has gone through a prepper/hoarder's estate knows what I mean. Along with the expected things, you keep finding stuff that the deceased had forgotten they had. And on this project, with each trip comes the risk of others finding about them here and on the way home.

Thanks!
^^^^^
Correct
- the "one man's trash is an other's treasure" model; been a beneficiary a few times......
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In the House


“OK, what room first?” Heidi asked Odina as they stood in the kitchen.

“How much do you think we can take?” was Odina’s reply.

Heidi could hear the uncertainty in Odina’s voice now. The powerful confident attitude she saw earlier and heard on the way down here was gone, even if momentarily. Here was someone she was sure was used to being in control and now, here she was, having to rely on others, unsure of everything, not knowing where she fit in with this group of take charge militaristic can do get out of my way people.

She remembered when Allyson checked on her when she Doug and Emelia first walked into Garen and Bekka’s house. Well, Allyson and Emilia were bringing in the boxes and bags, so it was up to her.

“Well, I was taught, when in doubt about where to start, start where you stand. As soon as they get the boxes and stuff to pack in, we can start in here. Let’s go with three waves in each room. Need, Want, Like. You point out the stuff we need to take. We will pack that and take it out to go in the first trips. We do this in each room. When we get the ‘Need’ piles all out, then we go back through each room again for the ‘Want’. And so on. That way, if something happens and we have to leave before we can get as much as we would like, you don’t end up short the stuff you had on the ‘Need’ list because we stripped one room and hadn’t gotten to the next. Sound like a plan?”

Heidi could see some of the gears spinning behind Odina’s eyes now. She was thinking again as Allyson and Emilia came into the kitchen, boxes in their hands.

“Let’s start with the food in the pantry over there,” Odina pointed, “and the spices in the cabinet next to the stove. I will pile the pot, pans and utensils we need to pack on the island.”

“Great! And as soon as you get those pulled, pick the next room and start stacking and we will be there as soon as we get this stuff out.” Heidi said as they started to work.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In the Workshop with the Trailers


Garen was looking at the trailers already loaded with stuff in the front of the workshop. They had tags or lists on them. The first three were marked ‘Odina’. The first one made sense once he remembered her training and occupation. He pulled back the cover to look inside. Full with all the pieces he bet. It would be interesting to see what a culinary trained chef could do with a military mobile kitchen trailer.

The next trailer was stacked to the hoops with boxes. Garen used his flashlight to get a better look at what they were. Stacks and stacks of freeze-dried food components, boxes and boxes of them. With just what he calculated with his packers eyeball, there was enough here for a good long while.

The third one marked for Odina was more of a hodge-podge of stuff. He could see what looked like tents, sleeping bags, cots and who knows what else. He thought about the implications. Ezekiel set Odina up with food, water, shelter, not knowing what he was sending her into, but made sure she was taken care of.

Garen wondered what else the old man prepared for.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Out in the Yard


Doug and Jesse were in the area behind the workshop, trying to decipher things. There were trailers, trucks and parts of things, some covered by tarps, all with no real rhyme or reason they could figure out. The place was a maze of stuff, seemingly stacked and placed by size rather than any other reason they could figure.

“OK, I got axles for the HMMWV trailers, probably three, no, four.” Jesse called out.

“They probably go with the stack of rims and tires over here next to the glass front freezers.” was Doug’s reply.

“Do those freezers look like they could work?”

“I doubt it. You might be able to make one working one out of all five of them if you were lucky.”

On and on it went. Treasures like a wood pallet with five-gallon cans of military vehicle paint sat next to a dozen dry rotted tires for something they couldn’t identify off hand. At one point Doug looked up at the stacks and piles and started to realize how much there really was to go through. It was going to take a lot of time, more time than they originally planned on.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In the For Sale Yard


Kara was away from the rest. She was trying to get a better inventory of the vehicles, trailer and all the other stuff in the front public sales area. She was hoping to find enough trailers and other vehicles they could just load up everything on and not need to unload them right away to bring them back for another trip.

First target was trailers, then things to pull them. Once the inside crews had a better handle on the quantity on hand and the resources already packed or dedicated to it in and behind the workshop, then the results of her reconnaissance would come into play.

Garen, as always, had her working on a possible side project while she was out on the lot. He wanted her to keep on eye out for some extra vehicles to replace the ones they had stashed at the Center. Unfortunately, they had to use them the last time they were in town and never replaced them. Now, depending on what they had here, he wanted to put one or two back over there, complete with some supplies and resources for an emergency operations position or bolt hole.

The big trick would be finding something middle of the road useful. Whatever it was had to be useful enough and able to sit for long periods and still work with minimal effort. There was a good spot they had picked out to run a couple of the smaller solar panels to keep the engine batteries charged, but as for the rest?

She made a list of the trailers and worked her way through the vehicles. Any of the couple trucks out front would probably be pressed into trailer towing duty. Part of the problem in her search was the shear bizarreness of the mix of vehicles on the lot. Something was nagging at the back of her consciousness now. She looked around some more. Finally, she had it.

Most of the vehicles here were in pairs. It was almost like some automotive Noah’s Ark. Now she knew she would try to find two sets of vehicles for the Center. She kept moving. She knew they would need her info soon and she has already been out here a while.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Kara came back into the main workshop area to find Garen idling a pair of Frankenstein-esque HMMWVs hooked to a pair of trailers.

“What in the hell are these?” she had to ask.

“The plates and paperwork call them M1025A2, some sort of Special Forces variant, with all the ‘special’ stuff removed. It’s still got the demilitarized paperwork and specs in the binders with all four of them. Looks like Ezekiel had a penchant for that type, considering the one we got from him earlier along with all the Land Rovers set up that way, including the pink panther over there.” Garen said as he checked the connections between the trailers and the HMMWVs again.

“And you say there are four?”

“Yeah. As soon as I get the idling smoothed out in these two and make sure they will start up again, I’ll pull the other two up and hook them up to the other trailer, plus the one over there Bekka and Angelique are loading.” He waved over at the trailer being packed from the house.

“Have you guys decided who all is going with this first run?”

“Not yet. Some of it depends on how much there is to move and how much to pack. Doug and Jesse keep finding more stuff and I won’t even guess about what all is coming from inside. Zed and Paige have their hands full trying to make sure the Rovers will work and make the trip. So, how did the hunt go out there? Find enough trailers or are we going to have to unload at the other end and bring some back down?”

“There’s a couple more of the military trailers out front, and some plain civilian flatbeds, but those I don’t know how much we will be able to load them down. I found a few trucks to tow some of the heavier shit with though.”

At this, Garen grinned. “Well, as soon as either Zed or Paige is available, point them that way to see if we can get them up and running.”

“Sure. One other thing. I think I found some leave behinds to take to the Center.”

“Oh? What’d you find?”

“Well, with the ton of stuff out there, I dug through all of them and found two pairs of winners. We can put all four up by the apartment.”

“OK, so what are they?”

“A pair of early 2000’s GMC Safari vans and a pair of mid-eighties Toyota pick-ups. The vans are pretty much gutted inside and the pick-ups are small, but they all have four-wheel drive and a huge reputation for toughness and reliability.”

“Sounds like you found some good ones. Now we just have to decide what to put in them before we drop them over at the Center,” He looked over at Bekka and Angelique. “But until Paige or Zed can check them, you and I should help those two load trailers.”

“Right. Otherwise, we will never hear the end of it.” Kara finished Garen’s thought.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Decisions and Movement


With a dozen people working hard, they made a decent amount of headway. One of the major decisions late in the afternoon was how many would stay and how many would go back to the house with the first load. After a quick discussion, the decision was five vehicles with trailers would head out just before dusk.

The rest would keep working and bed down here and get things ready for the next loads when the others came back in the morning. With the preloaded trailers and two with the fist of the stuff from the house gone, it made more room in the workshop to load more trailers or stage stuff to put into trailers and vehicles.

The next hurdle was how many and who would be in this convoy. This got heated quick until Garen outshouted everyone to silence so they could do a more rational lay out of the plan.

The end results was six would go and six stay. They looked at driving experience, combat skill, the ability to fix stuff quickly if there was a mechanical breakdown. This was balanced against keeping things progressing here. All the ideas were thrown on the table, then most of the factors were promptly chucked into the trash.

The final list of drivers in the first trip were Doug, Bekka, Heidi, Angelique, Allyson and Paige. All the factors going into this list were hotly debated again but shifting anyone out for someone else shorted efforts or safety in someone’s mind.

With five vehicles and six people, this made Angelique the utility infielder. She would ride in one of the middle HMMWVs with Paige, ready to shoot, play lookout, or run stuff up or down the line if needed.

Bekka was going to be the lead driver while Kara, in one of the Suburbans, was the tail of the train. Their goal was to get everyone to the house, park the trailers in the training building along with the HMMWVs, get some food and sleep, then run back down in the morning in the Suburban. It sounded simple when Garen said. That’s one of the things that worried Bekka, among many others.

Soon it was a hectic mess again as they made last minute additions to the vehicles, moved their personal gear into the vehicles they would drive, and in general made ready.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique and Paige were getting squared away in their spot when Garen came rolling up with a cart of last-minute stuff.

“What is this shit?” Paige asked him.

“It’s the Lewis gun stuff.” was Garen’s reply as if it answered everything.

“That stuff is demilled. Why do we need to drag it on the first trip? I don’t have a quick way to mount it to scare people and the only way it will hurt someone is if you drop it on their toes. I hope you don’t think I can get them to run. Those are just blocks of aluminum with a bunch of set dressing bolted on them.” Paige sounded frustrated now.

“I know they aren’t real but they are made of real parts.” Garen countered.

“And? Have you looked at how complex the receivers are for those things? It would take me months to even try to make one, IF I had all the resources AND the blueprints and schematics. So, tell me again why the boat anchors go on the first trip?”

“Because I already have one tucked away at the house I couldn’t use at all because I didn’t have even a single magazine for it. These things aren’t prospective weapons, they are operational spare parts to see if we can get mine running.” Garen said, some of his own fatigue and frustration showing now.

“Well, that makes sense then, I guess. OK, just stack it there and Angelique and I will make room. Is this it or are there more boxes?”

“This is all I have found so far, but there’s no telling.” Garen said as he left the cart of stuff behind when he walked off towards the front of the convoy string and Bekka.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Bekka was just tucking the map back into her pocket when Garen walked up.

“You got everything?” he asked.

“Yeah, I got everything. As soon as the rest of the dingledorfs get set, we can head out.”

“You be careful! None of the shit we are getting is worth any of you getting hurt.”

“Some goes for you. Be careful digging around down here while we are gone. Don’t get squished under some pile of crap you just have to investigate.” Bekka shot back.

“I won’t. Kara and I are going to pull those four vehicles for the Center in here so we can start chucking bits and pieces in them as we go. While we do that, the rest will keep boxing and packing the larger flat beds. Jesse and Doug found the matching tactical trailers for the Rovers so we will pull those in as well for the final drive out when we are done with all the trips.”

“With all the parts and tools and all the other shit we were finding in the house, it’s going to take several more loads. I didn’t get a good look at Kara’s list but we will end up either pulling more vehicles from out front or we are going to need to start unloading shit at the house and bringing trailers back down.” Bekka’s voice held a tone of worry and fatigue at the thought of all that work.

“It’s OK, Kara had an idea after looking at the stuff out front and we might have another possible solution we can check out when we drop the ones off at the Center.”

“Do I want to know?” Bekka’s danger lights were flashing in her head.

“Not yet. We have to get a better picture of what we still have to pack and what vehicles we have on hand before we chase this idea. Don’t worry, we got this. Get these guys up to the house and get some food and rest.”

“No traipsing off and getting into trouble with Kara. You hear me!” The worry in Bekka’s voice masked by the mock anger.

Garen gave Bekka a big hug and a kiss as the vehicles all started firing up. It was time for them to go.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen and Bekka’s House


The radio call from Bekka startled them. They hadn’t expected a call or anyone headed their way for a few more hours. That’s why Sabine, Andrea and Isadora were in the bedroom doing a wellness check on Andrea’s pregnancy progress. Sabine was doing the exam and using the opportunity to work with Isadora.

Isadora had experience but it was from long ago. As a teenager, she had helped her mother, the local midwife, deliver babies. Now she was the understudy for Sabine. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Garen, Kara, Doug or Allyson, but Isadora had helped deliver five times the babies the other four combined had seen.

When the radio chirped, Andrea was on her back and Isadora had the ultrasound wand in her hand, trying to follow what Sabine showed her and see the baby on the tiny cellphone sized screen. Andrea started to jump up, but Sabine put her hand on Andrea’s shoulder.

“Don’t. I got it. You just stay there.”

“You sure?”

“Yup. Isadora’s starting to get the hang of it, and you can hear the radio from here to know how important it is.”

The radio traffic was Bekka letting them know they had five vehicles coming their way. This meant pretty soon one of them would have to go down and open the gate and training building roll up door. This also meant they would have a bunch of people in the house soon. She could finish showing Isadora the exam, maybe even the doppler but not enough time for her to try it on Sabine. Oh well, next time.

Sabine smiled at Andrea and Isadora when she went back into the room.

“Right. Next we measure the cervix with your fingers.”
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
A Break from the Work


The six people still at Ezekiel’s were taking a break for some food. Odina had kept enough behind to whip up an awesome meal from nowhere. It was kind of like a chili, but it had potatoes in it. It was kind of like a stew but there was rice in it. Whatever it was, it was hot, filling and tasted great.

As they sat and ate, the talk turned towards the next steps in planning.

“After we finish eating and before the food coma hits, I was thinking,” Garen said around mouthfuls, “if you” he pointed at Zed “can help Kara get those four vehicles she found out front running and in here along the front corner behind the Ferret.”

“Sure. What’s the plan for those?”

“We are going to load up some odds and ends into them, you know, food, water, shelter, fuel, med supplies maybe, and stash them over at the Center as an ‘in case of’ sort of thing.”

“You know, we aught to put that Pinzgauer over there too. There’s plenty of room, even if we don’t put any on the top deck.” Kara added.

“Makes sense. So, any Pinz parts we find, we load into it, and half a dozen of the umpteen hundred jerry cans we have now, and that goes over there too. I’ll pull it over to be first in line for the Center destined vehicles.”

“While they do that and you move things around here in the bay since we have a little more room, what did you have for me?” Jesse queried.

“You’re helping me get the Rover trailers in place, the Rovers lined up out of the way, and the other mil trailers in from out front over here so they are ready for the next round of loads. Odina, if you and Emilia can take another look around in the house, now that you know how much we can get into the trailers, you might have a better estimate on the sheer quantity left in there.”

Garen looked around and saw nods from everyone. They had a plan.
 

Kiwibutterfly

Contributing Member
LADIES. Lets see if we can find some male super heroes.

I'd love to see how we visualise Garen etc.... lol BUT......
I'm off to travel 120 odd kms for a ruddy hospital appt AND to do some shopping and won't be back till late tonight, it's 8.30am Monday 5/12/22 here in NZ lets go........
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
On the Road to the House


Bekka was cursing one of the problems of the breakdown of their current environment. Vehemently!

The rain seemed to come out of nowhere. She should have known with how bad her joints were feeling but she just blew it off to all the loading and packing they did. Storms were always impressive here where they come charging across the sea then when they get compressed against the cliffs and ridgelines heading inland, they dump all their fury on the puny people below.

Bekka loved the rain. Correction, she loved watching and listening to the rain from the hot tub. She wasn’t as fond of it in her Subaru. In the failing light from the seat of an open-topped doorless HMMWV with useless wiper blades? It sucked!

They weren’t going to use the headlights, not that they would help anyway. The biggest question in her mind now was how fast to go and still be safe. They would have to pull over soon to goggle up but she had to pick a good spot. She didn’t want to do it until they were in a spot with less threat.

Bekka couldn’t blame the weatherman for screwing up the prediction. She didn’t have anyone else farther west to get a weather update from but she still felt responsible.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
With the first drops of rain hit, Angelique ducked down and grabbed her rain jacket.

“Hey, we hit a straight patch, I can hold the wheel so you can get your jacket on.” she told Paige.

She saw Paige was distracted now, splitting her attention between the road and the bag next to her. She ducked down again and grabbed the wheel.

“I got it, grab your jacket.”

It didn’t take Paige long to pull her jacket on and get back on the wheel. They were traveling slower now, and the view out the front sucked. The wiper blades were almost non-existent and did nothing but smear things worse.

Angelique stood there looking out to the front and back. She could almost see the front of Bekka’s HMMWV and the front of Doug’s Suburban in the back, but both were hazy in the sheets of driving rain. She wasn’t sure how much of a lookout she could be now. The road was treacherous enough with all the worries at hand. Now they wouldn’t be able to see anyone else on the route.

Angelique hoped they would get home soon. She was cold, wet, and next to useless standing up here.
 
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